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Monday, April 11, 2011

Manitoba braces for floods

Manitoba prepares for flood as Red River crests in N.D.

Concerns about flooding are rising in southern Manitoba. Water levels in the area receded slightly on Sunday, but the Red River has now crested in Fargo, North Dakota, putting people in Winnipeg on alert.

Randy Hull, the city's emergency preparedness co-ordinator, says 2,000 volunteers gathered over the weekend to help sandbag 100 properties in the area that aren't protected by the ring dikes encircling the city.

"As of last night, we were able to finish the first phase of our sandbagging for those at-risk properties that are part of the first part of our response to this event. So we have about 400,000 sandbags that have been put in place," he told Canada AM Monday from Winnipeg.

As the floodwater starts to move up from North Dakota, his crew will move into the next phase which aims to protect another 460 properties, Hull said.

The city is hoping for 900 volunteers a day over the next few days to help sandbag those flood-prone neighbourhoods.